E-5 shifted a bit in the chair A-98 had helped her settle into. She was quite thankful for that. Giving birth took a lot out of her. Afterwards she always needed to rest. She figured it might be a while longer before anyone noticed. The only wildcard was Xeni, but so far things were going good. Glancing out the window she saw the roiling of hyperspace. They had gotten this far, now they just needed to get a little further and thanks to her habit of diving into her sister’s memories she knew what to do next.

“Okay see that console there on the left?”

A-98 nodded, “I do.”

“That should be the navigation panel. There should be a menu on the left-hand side with a list of preset destinations.”

A-98 looked it over and said, “Found it!”

“Good, it should be in alphabetical order. Just skip ahead to the ‘N’ section and look for Nekuri. Once you find it, let me know.”

After a good minute, she said, “Found it!”

“Just select Nekuri and you should get a prompt about setting a course for Nekuri. When you do, say yes.”

After a moment she said, “Done.”

“Great, when the computer tells you that the course is plotted, let me know.”

A moment later she did and E-5 glanced at the controls in her reach. She reached over and hit the automatic pilot. A moment later there was a whine as the engines engaged and space began moving. She felt a bit of relief.  Smiling, she turned to share her feelings with Eriku, only her counterpart was already asleep. She decided to join her, “Wake me when we get there.”

“Um, how...” She drifted off before she heard the rest of A-98’s question.

---

Xeni turned the corner as she made her way to E-5’s room. It had been a couple of hours since her birthing. By now she should be resting and likely would not be much interested in doing anything else. She sighed as she remembered earlier. She felt kinda bad for telling the girl no. Especially with something like this. Xeni knew how much Kiru meant to the girl and she had promised to reunite them and yet she had told her no. It didn’t sit right, but E-5 was like a daughter to her. There was no way she was going to willingly let that girl march into danger and there was the whole fact that she was a breeder. She had birthing quotas to meet. If she left now, she would miss her scheduled impregnation window. 

Still she had promised, so she had been stewing on the conversation for a while. Thinking about what she could do now that they knew where Kiru was. That image did bother her a bit, it made her wonder about what else may have been done to the girl. Still Kiru was valuable to the program. If they could recover her it would go a long way toward their goals. More importantly reuniting those two sisters would be the best gift she could give to E-5. Something she really wanted to be able to do.

Reaching E-5’s door she knocked. There was no response, but she didn’t really expect one. E-5 often slept pretty deeply after a session. Still she waited a moment or two before opening the door. The room was dark, the lights were out and all she saw were shadows. Cast by the light in the hall. Xeni triggered the light panel by the door and the lights sprang on. To reveal an empty room. No one was here.

She blinked, E-5 was usually here after a session. For a moment she just stared and then she turned the lights off and left. A-98 must have not brought her back here. With that thought in mind she went to check A-98’s room. The two girls were likely together in there.

Briefly she recalled earlier when she walked in on the two. They had definitely been enjoying themselves and she liked seeing them get along. It had made her feel better then and as a result, she had put off the conversation she wanted to have now. Didn’t want to get in the way of their fun. She much enjoyed seeing them bond. Xeni smiled at the memory and then knocked on A-98’s door. Again there was no response. She frowned. Maybe A-98 decided to snuggle against E-5 and take a nap as well? Yet she could not help but be worried. She pushed the door open and was greeted by a dark room. She hit the lights.

The room was empty. The bed, unoccupied. Neither E-5 nor A-98 were in sight. Something was wrong. Feeling very worried, she rushed off to the gardens. Praying that she would find them there instead but somehow she already knew that wasn’t going to be the case and she soon found herself right. They weren’t. Her favorite girls were gone. Worry gnawed at her as she looked everywhere they would likely go. Even getting helpers to look. Yet some part of her couldn’t help but think about that conversation from earlier today. She had the sinking feeling they had gone after Kiru.

---

The drone passed a pair of Iniri and slipped into a new room unnoticed. It was a large room filled with row after row of beds. Many of them are occupied with young baby girls. It approached one at random and did a quick scan. She was quite healthy and calm. The little one had clearly been fed recently. Her crib was fairly sophisticated with nice clear walls and several sensors. Devices attached to it maintained a controlled temperature to keep the baby warm. The bottom was a thin yet very soft and cushioned mattress. Designed to support her and keep her comfortable. The material was also clearly designed to be easily cleaned. The infant didn’t have a blanket or any kind of covering, but she didn’t seem to need it. Thanks to the controlled environment around her. There were more advanced designs in its database, but the crib was of a solid design. Clearly meant to keep the infant comfortable. It even had a system to deal with biological waste, thereby ensuring the infant didn’t end up lying in pools of their own waste. Unfortunately, the system wasn’t perfect.

The next infant seemed to have recently soiled herself and was making a fuss. One that seemed to have already been noticed as an Iniri soon appeared to check on her. The drone watched as the young woman quickly assessed the situation before pulling out the tools she needed. The girl was wiped clean and given a gentle sponge bath. While her crib’s self-clean functions were activated. In moments the crib was clean and the girl was being laid back down.

While the Iniri cooed, “There there. It’s okay. All better?”

The girl settled into the crib but was only calm for a moment.

“Hungry? Already?” the Iniri sighed, “Alright just be patient, I’ll get something for you.”

Oddly the girl quieted and the Iniri left. Minutes later she was back with a bottle and she began to feed the little one. The drone watched for a moment before moving on. Soon entering another room. This one was much like the last with a fair number of infants in cribs with several Iniri moving around the room monitoring the young Neku. The drone saw some being fed by bottle with others being fed by nipple. Others were being cleaned.

Each girl it scanned appeared to be quite healthy. With one exception. It found one not so healthy, in a crib with a quarantine field around it. The poor girl was being monitored by sensors. She was suffering from a minor infection which was already being treated. At that moment the poor girl was sleeping. It only took a moment to determine that she would recover soon.

The drone moved on, there wasn’t much to see here. The next room was the first one it saw without cribs. Instead there was a large playpen. Several young girls were present. While a couple of Iniri watched and played with them. As the drone observed them playing simple games, a new Iniri entered the room. She spoke, “Okay time to pack things up, play time is up for this group.”

One of the ones playing with the girls, sighed, “Already?”

“I know it goes by so quickly.”

The complaining Iniri started putting the toys away, “If I had known things would be like this. I wouldn’t have taken this job. I want to actually bond and really enjoy them growing up. Not this. As it is we aren’t allowed to spend more than a week with any of them and they don’t even get names. Just numbers.”

The other girl sighed, “Yeah well I’m just glad my time here is about over. In a week I get to take a few of them home and actually bond with them.”

The first girl slumped a little, “Lucky you.”

“Hey, the girls are the real lucky ones. They are going to get names and soon enough they will be allowed to actually start forming memories.”

The first girl gave the other a look, “Please don’t remind me about that.”

The drone quickly noted that down. This seemed important, so it beamed the conversation back to Megumi for her to process. 

“I know, I know. I don’t much like it either.”

The first girl looked at the ceiling, “Great! Now I am thinking about that. Why do we even do it?”

The second sighed, “You know why.”

“I know, but I still have to ask.”

The second sighed, “Yeah fun place we work at. At least while I have those girls they will get to actually be kids. For a bit anyway.”

“I know, you only get to be with them until they get shipped off to whatever program they were selected for and being programmed for.”

She sighed again, “I’m not looking forward to that. On a different note did you hear the news about the homeworld?”

The drone logged that all down. Something interesting was there. Megumi seemed very interested in what, and it was already being ordered to find out more. Those two were no longer useful but new clues might be in the area. The drone moved on. Now it had a new goal. Perhaps the local computers would have the clues it needed?

---

Yiria stretched in her seat. It had been some time since the drone had given her a bowl of food. Beside her little Miku had woken and was playing with a strange sphere that the drone had brought for her. It glowed, projecting fancy light patterns and making interesting sounds. Little Miku was utterly fascinated by the tiny toy. Her simple joy was quite something to enjoy by proximity. Something Yiria was so glad to have experienced.

Slipping out of her own seat she picked up Miku. Using another tentacle to help her hold her new toy and then turned her attention to the room. The drone had finished treating everyone in the room and she had seen it disappear down a hall moments ago. By now the booms in the distance were gone. She certainly felt better about that. Especially considering how much those booms had been scaring little Miku. With that in mind she felt quite happy that things were going back to normal. Well mostly. She glanced at all the girls laid out on the floor. All of them were asleep. For how much longer she didn’t know, but it was still abnormal.

Glancing at the hall and remembering the old lady and her daughter. Neither of which she had seen yet. Yiria decided to go after the drone. Most importantly she wanted to see the young girl and see how she was doing. The girl was only six but she had brought such life to the place and it had been very heartwarming to see her eagerly helping out her family. Not to mention she had been very cute playing at being a waitress.

A smile appeared on her lips as she disappeared down the hall herself. Where she was greeted with a short hall and several doors. She glanced into each of them but was greeted with empty rooms. Empty of people anyway. Two of them were clearly storerooms, the next was a study, followed by an office. After that was a backway into the main kitchen. Other than a few Neku sleeping on the floor there wasn’t anything of note about the room. She moved on and came to the stairs.

The stairs were simple wooden steps with a side rail. There was a landing halfway up, and she was happy to see no one was sleeping on the stairs. She would have felt sorry for anyone if she had seen them sleeping on the stairs. Something that struck her as possible, seeing as everyone but her and Miku seemed to be asleep.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she was greeted with another landing and a door. Said door was standing wide open and it led into what could only be described as an apartment. She noticed the owner. The nice older lady that ran this shop. The woman was sleeping quite peacefully in an old wooden chair. The drone was not in sight.

Her goal wasn’t here either, so she looked around. Getting a feel for what felt like an upstairs apartment. The center was a living area and kitchenette along with a dining room. There wasn’t much to say about the room. Everything clearly had its place and the counters had recently been polished clean. There seemed to be a fresh cake placed in a glass cake holder on the table. She didn’t see anyone in the kitchen or dining area. Just the old woman sleeping in a chair in the living room.

She moved down a hall. Coming across a couple of bedrooms that she only glanced inside of. Barely noting any of the details. Aside from them not being occupied. She passed a bathroom as well and then she finally found something.

It was the last room at the end of the hall and she glanced in to see a young girl about six years of age. Being gingerly set down on the bed by the drone from earlier. Curious, she stepped into the room. It was sparsely decorated and rather generic. The walls were painted white, the sheets were a basic pink with flowers on them. There was a wooden chest and a desk but there was an apparent lack of personal items. If not for the toys on the floor one would think it to be a generic guest room.

She pulled the chair from the desk and repositioned it before settling down. “So, umm... is she okay?”

Yiria didn’t expect the drone to reply, “Subject is relatively healthy. Minor abnormalities detected, not life-threatening, easily corrected.”

She frowned, “Abnormalities?”

It lifted the little girl’s tail and pointed at a few spots, “Previous injuries. Deliberate, likely subject of abuse. Investigation required.”

“Um, could you... elaborate?”

“This unit can give more detail, yes. Would you like a full medical analysis of the subject or would prefer something that requires less medical knowledge to digest?”

“I don’t need a full analysis, a simple explanation will do.”

“Understood. The subject has suffered multiple injuries consistent with beatings. Her tail has been deliberately snapped and allowed to heal multiple times in the last three years. The most recent break likely occurred seven months ago and represents the youngest injury this unit can find. Other injuries include...”

Yiria merely listened, feeling increasingly appalled at what happened to this bright little six-year-old. She thought back to when she first met her. The girl had been so happy. Helping out her family, yet she must have been dealing with this. Yiria didn’t know what to say or think. That girl needed love and affection, she knew that.

At some point, the unit had stopped talking and it was now doing something to the poor girl’s tail. She watched it for a moment and quickly concluded it was fixing her tail. Repairing the damage done to her. Weakly she spoke, “Anything I can do to help her?”